970 17. KINOSTERNID/E 



ous. Captive specimens ate meat voraciously, under water. 

 The Tucson specimens were caught with hook and line baited 

 with meat. 



223. Kinosternon flavescens (Agassiz) 

 YELLOW-NECKED MUD TURTLE 



Platythyra flavescens AGASSIZ, Contributions Nat. Hist. U. S., Vol. I, 



1857, p. 430 (part) (type localities, Texas, Arizona), Vol. II, 



pi. V, figs. 12-15. 

 Cinosternum flavescens COPE, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. i, 1875, P- 5 2 



(part); COUES, Surv. W. looth Merid., Vol. V, 1875, p. 590, pi. 



XVII; TRUE, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 24, 1883, p. 31 (part); 



BOULENGER, Cat. Chelon. Brit. Mus., 1889, p. 40; COPE, Proc. 



Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1893, p. 386; BROWN, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. 



Phila., 1903, p. 543; SIEBENROCK, SB. Akad. Wiss. Wien, Vol. 



CXVI, 1907, p. 568, fig. 6; DITMARS, Reptile Book, 1907, p. 25, 



pi. XI; SIEBENROCK, Zool. Jahrb., Suppl. 10, Heft 3, 1909, p. 443; 



STRECKER, Baylor Bulletin, Vol. XVIII, No. 4, 1915, p. 10. 

 Kinosternum flavescens COPE, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1892, p. 333. 

 Kinosternon flavescens STONE, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1903, p. 540; 



ELLIS & HENDERSON, Univ. Colorado Studies, Vol. X, No. 2, 1913, 



p. 114; STEJNEGER & BARBOUR, Check List N. Amer. Amph. Kept., 



1917, p. in. 



Description. Shell rather narrow, elongate, somewhat 

 depressed, smooth. Vertebrals five, usually longer than 

 broad. Costals four, first longest, second and third highest, 

 last smallest. Nuchal narrow. Marginals 1 1 on each side, 

 ninth with superior border much elevated anteriorly, supra- 

 caudals not united. Plastron large, extending forward about 

 as far as carapace, its central region covered by the abdominal 

 plates united to carapace by a strong bridge. Anterior por- 

 tion of plastron hinged, capable of closing shell when head 

 and limbs are redrawn. Gulars partly or completely united 

 into a single plate. Pectoral median suture short. Abdomi- 

 nal and anal sutures longest. Axillary and inguinal plates 

 elongate, separating abdominal from marginals. Head rather 



